I've been learning a lot of terms recently, which seem to be confusing me more an awful lot. As someone in their early 30's whose had no known health problems, I found myself in hospital last Saturday after something the French doctors called Tetany. I moved to Paris about a year and a half ago (probably reason enough to cause any health issues! ) about six months ago I got a terrible pain in my chest, that increased whenever I tried to inhale. I was worried, but didn't bother a doctor about it (I've had this once before) and am quite certain that was PCS (precordial catch syndrome), which disappeared after about half an hour. I then had a good month or more of eyelid twitching which was very annoying, and found myself more irritable than usual (I'm usually very chilled and patient in nature), despite I sleep well, felt in good health, and maintain a good balanced diet. I got past all that, then last Friday I had a bit of a cold and runny nose, and the next morning felt a bit blocked in my chest, bit of a sore throat and temporarily lost voice (assumed I'd caught a bug). Had a shower, felt okay, got out of the shower and found it hard to breath (made a horrible gaspy noise when inhaled/exhaled). I went to dry my hair and thought I was going to pass out, so sat down. I then tried to make it to my chair in the next room and found breathing very difficult indeed. I collapsed on the floor next to my baby's cot, and whilst I tried really hard to relax and breath deeply, found myself fighting extremely hard for every breath and thought I was going to lose consciousness. At the same time, I assumed my muscles were being starved of oxygen as my wrists bent over and fingers all went rigid; I lost the sensation in my legs and couldn't move those and started getting pins and needles everywhere else, including my head, and really thought my time had come. Fortunately the pompiers (firemen - in France they're usually better at coming to you and getting you to hospital) came extremely quickly and from my bent over, rigid hands recognised it as tetany (I'd never heard of it, and certainly not experienced it), and managed to calm my breathing more. It took about 10-15 minutes before I could begin to move my hands again and they took me to hospital. The checkups at the hospital showed my chest to be clear, and my blood pressure was good. They just said it was Tetany caused by too much stress, and that was also the cause of my respiratory problems.

Today (Monday), I still have a tickly throat and am coughing a lot, and feel quite weak if I move about or do much. I went to the doctors and told her about the situation, and she seems to think it is asthma or an anxiety attack, or asthma caused by an anxiety attack (apparently they're hard to tell apart). I just assumed I had caught a bug, but she also seems to think I'm bug free, and is going to put me on an inhaler for a fortnight.

I have to say I'm really confused by it all. I work for myself at home, look after a baby (and now live in a foreign country), which I guess are stressful things, but everybody suffers stress and I figured I was doing quite alright. I'm now wondering if the doctor is perhaps right, and perhaps my body is reacting to these things with the spasmophilia and anxiety induced asthma. Hopefully tests will reveal more, and I don't mean to rabbit on at length but thought it might be worth writing about my experience in a forum where others might have had similar experiences - I'm really keen to get to the bottom of it, as I need to bit fit and healthy to look after my 3 month old.

Hi Couchtater - appreciate the reply. Fortunately the doctor said she would do a blood test to check my thyroid - might that also be responsible for weight loss, because despite eating plenty I'm as skinny as I was at 16, when I was an uncomfortable lanky teenage. I'm tall and my legs are like sticks and I can see my ribs, which I really dislike - doesn't seem normal to me (although I've always been fairly thin).

I have thyroid troubles so I know the frustrations. Mood swings, depression, fatigue, sleep troubles, and etc. Basically I just kept feeling "off", like something just doesn't feel right.I hope they are able to get you straighten out.

I've always wanted to visit Paris, but it's just out of the question financial wise. :)

Thanks Joy. This past month I've sometimes lost my temper and ended up shouting at my partner (to be fair to me, she is Parisian and they can be irksome! hehe), but it's totally out of character for me. Fortunately I do sleep well (and I'm very lucky as my 3 month baby sleeps 10-12 hours a night!) It does feel like something isn't right, but then I suppose if you did a world survey everybody would probably respond that something didn't feel quite right... Anyhow, I know what you mean.Hope one day you get to visit. Not all Parisians are that bad, honestly!

Didn't expect to be here in 2014 !Yesterday I had another crises of tetany. I'd been feeling unwell (faintness, vomiting, sore throat, bad ears and slight respiratory problems which I often seem to get when sick). I was too unwell to drive, so my neighbour drove me to the doctors. In the car I began feel really bad and when we pulled up at the doctors I was too unwell to even get out of the car, so my neighbour went to call the doctor out to me. The sensation got worse and worse, I felt very faint and was finding it hard to breath, so I undid my seatbelt and attempted to get out of the car. I collapsed on the carpark floor and spent the next 1.5 hours (so I'm told - I lost track of time) fighting to breath. The doctor was there, who called the firemen but they couldn't help me so an ambulance arrived. I had my eyes closed most of the time just so I could focus on my breathing (which was very deep and raspy) and try to control what was happening. As before I started getting intense pins and needles in my hands, arms and legs. My hands bent inwards at the wrists and I couldn't move my fingers or legs. At some stages I had to vomit, which was quite excruciating because I was already fighting for breath.On the ambulance my breathing continued to be very laboured, and whilst the doctors were sympathetic, there was one female doctor who very sternly told me that the sound of my breathing was annoying her, and that there was no reason for me to be breathing like that (as though I had a choice in the matter!)

Eventually my breathing was under control, and I went back to just feeling generally unwell. I had a head scan, blood tests, heart check and an x-ray of my lungs, which all came back just fine, so they weren't able to tell me anything more other than it may be more psychological which I have a hard time believing.

These two following, subsequent days I have been exhausted (despite lots of sleep) and can barely get out of bed without feeling like I'm going to pass out. I'm going back to the doctor's on Monday, but I am frustrated because there's no diagnosis and therefore if it happens again there is nothing I can do to prevent it.

Zarathustra I was wondering how are you feeling now? I know it's been 3 years but I'm very curious because last year the same thing happened to me and I can't explain it. I was hoping you can give me more info about what you found out about your condition.